Online searching of the Beethoven Thesaurus

An online version of the Beethoven Thesaurus is available using ViewChoir, a thesaurus
construction program created by WebChoir.

The main window of the Beethoven Thesaurus lists the nine sections and number of terms
in each section:

After clicking on the name of the section, you can expand the section to display an
alphabetical list of main terms:

Some terms might display with an adjacent plus sign, indicating the existence of narrower
terms in relation to the main term. Click on the plus sign to further expand the list.

To view the thesaurus entry for a term, simply click on the term name in the left
window. The right window will then display the full entry, showing the preferred term
and cross references, with any scope notes, related concepts, possible subdivisions
or other usage notes, the name of the hierarchy to which the term belongs, and an
authority record number for the term's entry in the Beethoven Gateway. At this time,
there are no direct links from terms in the Beethoven Thesaurus to the Beethoven Gateway,
or vice-versa.

To search for words in the Beethoven Thesaurus, use the search window in the left
frame of the Viewchoir page. The search function allows you to locate any term (including
phrases) within the entire Thesaurus that might use a particular word. This will help
you identify the perferred term used in the Beethoven Gateway, and well as cross references
from unused forms. For example, a search on "Waldstein" retrieves the thesaurus entry
for "Opus 53," the preferred term used in the Beethoven Gateway for the "Waldstein
Sonata." You can also search for words in first lines of texts of Beethoven's works.

The keyword search allows you to indentify any term in the Thesaurus that might be
pertinent to your search. In the thesaurus entry for a particular term, a list of
related terms also directs you to other terms in the thesaurus that might be more
pertinent to your search. For example, a search on the term "form" leads you to several
possible matches, such as "hybrid forms," as well as terms related to the general
topic of form, such as "repeats."